The vexing host site of this 108th PGA Championship asked more questions than a cross examiner. You name it, Aronomink unleashed it: knotty rough, sloping fairways, slick greens with pins stuck in ridges that Alex Honnold couldn’t scale. Then there were the elements: chilly mornings; warm, dry afternoons that had the fairways and greens running faster than an Indy track; and wind. So much wind.
When Jon Rahm got his first look at the setup, on Monday and Tuesday, he was mystified by all the speculation that the field would decimate the nearly century-old Donald Ross design. “I [was] thinking, what was wrong with me, because everybody was saying we were going to shoot 15 to 20 under,” Rahm said Sunday evening. “I didn’t see any chance in the world of that happening.”
Rahm was right. His golfing instincts usually are. Not a single player made it to double digits below par. Aaron Rai, the victor no one saw coming, carded a spectacular fourth-round 65 to post 271, nine under, which was three better than anybody else. In the closest chase pack, at six under, were the 54-hole leader, Alex Smalley, and Rahm, who after two rounds of learning Aronmink (69-70), on the weekend finally began to solve it (67-68).
Much was on the line this week for Rahm, and not just a chance for his third major title and first since he departed for LIV Golf at the end of 2023. This week in the Philadelphia ’burbs marked the first major since LIV Golf’s backers — the Saudi Public Investment Fund — announced it is pulling its funding at the close of the 2026 season, a decision that has raised grave questions about the league’s future. Will LIV survive? It might. But it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which it could continue offering its stars nine-figure contracts and its fields $30 million purses. Any private-equity injection that helps keep the league afloat will demand belt-tightening and speedy returns. Ask the PGA Tour.
Rahm is a key piece of the sales pitch. Maybe the key piece given he is locked up through at least 2027. His LIV stablemate, Bryson DeChambeau, is a bigger draw but has been playing hard to get. With just a half-dozen events left on the 2026 schedule, DeChambeau still is unsigned for next season, assuming there is a next season. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil has said DeChambeau is fully invested in LIV’s wellbeing and has asked to join meetings with potential investors. But still, until DeChambeau comes to terms on a new deal, LIV cannot promise perspective buyers that the league’s biggest star will be part of the package.
Which brings us back to LIV’s second-biggest star: the 31-year-old Rahm.
When Rahm signed with LIV, he was ranked third in the world and coming off a season in which he’d won the Masters and finished top 10 in two of the other three majors. It was a seismic move, not only for him and his checking account but also for pro golf. With LIV nabbing another A-lister, its framework agreement with the PGA Tour seemed destined to become an actual agreement. Until . . . it didn’t. The Tour bolstered its coffers with private equity; the trickle of notable players defecting to LIV dried up; and LIV, outside of a couple of international markets, failed to take hold of golf fans’ imaginations. On Tuesday at Aronomink, Rahm was asked about any regrets he might harbor about his LIV move.
“Well, we all go back,” he said. “We all think what could have been and what couldn’t have been. It’s inevitable. Whatever decision you’ve made or choice is thought through and made for the reasons that you think are proper reasons, there’s no sense in dwelling on it. In fact, you shouldn’t really be unhappy about it. At least there’s nothing that you regret. If the terms change afterward, like it’s happened with LIV that things changed a little bit, it’s an afterthought, not a problem from the choice. I would say that elements have changed a little bit. That’s it.”
On Saturday evening, when Rahm found himself in a pack of five players just two back of Alex Smalley’s 54-hole lead, he was asked about LIV again — this time about what, in this fragile moment for LIV, a Rahm win at Arononmink would mean for the league.
Rahm said in major weeks, he thinks only about himself and the things he can control. But he allowed, “If I do get it done and I sit here again tomorrow, then you can ask me the same question, and I’ll give you an answer.” He added, “Hopefully I can keep doing what I’ve done so far this week, especially today, and I get the chance to answer that tomorrow.”
On Sunday, Rahm opened 3-3, birdie-birdie. He gave back those two strokes with a sloppy wedge at 3 and a loose tee shot at 7 but then birdied 9 and 16 to get back to two under for his round and six under for the tournament and within striking distance of Rai. But then, in the pairing ahead of Rahm’s, Rai birdied 16 and 17 to move to nine under. Game over.
“Really good golf,” Rahm said of his own play. “That’s the only way to look at it. Just wish I’d have done better with the speed of the greens. Just couldn’t seem to get it to the hole, and that’s the reason why I didn’t hole any more putts.”
Rahm will have a week off to think about what could have been, then it’s back on the road, for LIV Korea, followed by LIV’s event at Valderrama in southern Spain. Rahm’s next major start will come June 18-21 at Shinnecock Hills, the Long Island, New York, site of the U.S. Open.
Similar questions will await him there. Maybe this time he’ll have a chance to answer them.
